Exciting News from the U.S. Capitol

Posted by Mark Richert on 6/29/2009 4:02:32 PM

It's a busy and exciting time here in DC. Last Thursday, disability rights activist Kathy Martinez was confirmed by the Senate as assistant secretary for the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). Kathy is a well-known champion of opportunities for people with disabilities and we look forward to the energy and intellect she will bring to her work. And on Friday, Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) reintroduced comprehensive legislation to ensure that people with disabilities have access to Internet-based telecommunications and video programming technologies. The bill, the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101), will:

• require that mobile and other Internet-based telecommunications devices be fully hearing aid compatible, have accessible user interfaces, and offer people with disabilities access to a full range of text messaging and other popular services that are currently largely inaccessible;
• provide people who are deaf-blind with vital, but costly, technologies they need to communicate electronically, support real-time text communications capability, and clarify existing relay-to-relay Lifeline and Linkup service requirements to address the real world communications needs of people with disabilities;
• restore the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) modest video description rules and provide clear authority to expand such regulations, require emergency announcements and similar information to be accessible to people with disabilities through audible presentation of on-screen alerts, ensure that video programming offered via the Internet will be both captioned and described, and call for all devices that receive and play back video programming to employ accessible user interfaces and allow easy access to captioning and description; and
• strengthen consumers' ability to enforce their rights to communications and video accessibility through the establishment of a clearinghouse of information about service and equipment accessibility and usability, a meaningful FCC complaint process that holds industry accountable for their accessibility obligations, and judicial review of FCC action to ensure the Commission's own accountability.

All Members of the United States House of Representatives should be actively encouraged to cosponsor H.R. 3101, the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009, and you are urged to contact your Member of Congress immediately to make such a request. Learn how to contact your Member of Congress at https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml.

The legislation is supported by a broad-based cross-disability coalition of more than 230 national, regional, and community-based groups working together for information age equity for people with disabilities. You can find additional information about the coalition (known by its acronym COAT) and supporting material describing the purposes and provisions of COAT's proposed legislation at www.coataccess.org.

Re: Exciting News from the U.S. Capitol
Posted by Marc Grossman on 7/1/2009 12:32:43 PM

I called my House representative and let them know that I support H.R. 3101. It was really easy and took only five minutes.

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